3 Places I Went To During the Hurricane Rita Evacuation

*2-Minute Read*

(Photo Credit: ABC13 Houston)

It's August 2020, and my family and I find ourselves evacuating from our hometown of Lake Charles, a small city in southwest Louisiana, via two cars as Hurricane Laura is coming right at it. In September 2005, we evacuated from Lake Charles via our RV, as Hurricane Rita was coming right at it. We're in The Woodlands, Texas (north of Houston) right now, which I'll blog about later. But where did we go during Rita? 

1) Greenwood, Mississippi

We first spent the nights in our RV parked in the driveway of a friend of my dad's. There was another family staying with them as well, so there were nine kids total. I just remember a lot of playing around at their house. And I also recall seeing much of the small town of Greenwood in bits and pieces.

At this point, we'd learned that Houston had mostly been spared but Lake Charles was decimated. I kept wondering if my house was still standing and what the entire town looked like. 

2) Rayne, Louisiana

Rayne is another small town and, though it is only 45 minutes away from Lake Charles, it wasn't in the hurricane's path. This time, we stayed at an RV park and spent time with some family members who lived nearby. I remember going to Lafayette for a day and being introduced to the best candy store on earth, Candyland Cottage & Ice Cream Shoppe. 

At this point, I remember my mother debating on enrolling my brother and I in school in Rayne or elsewhere. How long would this last? 

3) Gulf Shores, Alabama 

On our third week away from home, we drove over four hours to Gulf Shores, which is one of Alabama's beach towns. We got to The Beach Club Family Resort (I forget where we put the RV) that night really late, so I slept until past 10:00 a.m. I woke up to see one of my cousin's faces inches from mine. They were ready to play. So, for the next week, we proceeded to have a typical beach vacation with our family and friends from our hometown.

At this point, I had never been away from my home for so long. I wondered if we were going to a different destination next week, as we had done twice already. (We didn't.) 

It feels kind of wrong to say I went on a hurrication, but it's the truth. It was three weeks of reuniting with a lot of family members and friends. However, returning to Lake Charles was somber. It was as if I was in the part of a movie before the black-and-white screen turns into technicolor. Blue tarps were everywhere. Trees were down. There was a hole in the roof of my house. It was a mess. But we (well, the adults, really) rose from the rubble and made our town better than it was pre-hurricane. And that's what truly matters. 

- Liv